March 08, 2013 10:03 PM CSTMarch 09, 2013 02:21 AM CSTCarlton: How do you beat Brittney Griner and the Baylor women's basketball team? There are some clues

Carlton: How do you beat Brittney Griner and the Baylor women's basketball team? There are some clues

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Tom Fox/Staff Photographer

Baylor Bears center Brittney Griner (42) spins teammate Shanay Washington around the floor after defeating the Florida State Seminoles and having three dunks in a second round NCAA Women's Basketball Championship game at the Ferrell Center in Waco, March 26, 2013. Baylor won 85-47. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)

Start with maybe the best center that women’s basketball has ever seen, and then add a superlative point guard with few equals.

Mix in veteran role players who might be stars elsewhere, all guided by a woman with two NCAA titles on a distinguished résumé as a player, assistant and head coach.

No wonder Baylor has become a nightmare matchup ever since 6-8 Brittney Griner was recruited to campus in 2009 by coach Kim Mulkey, to be joined by Odyssey Sims a year later as the perfect backcourt complement.

A loss in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Championship would send shockwaves across the country. With the top ranking, the Lady Bears would be the odds-on favorite for a second straight NCAA title, adding to a legacy of dominance.

“For them to lose,” said Texas coach Karen Aston, “they’ll have to have a real bad night.”

It’s possible. Stanford succeeded this season, ending the Lady Bears’ winning streak at 42 games, albeit with Sims playing just four minutes because of a hamstring injury. And in Baylor’s last game at the American Airlines Center, Texas A&M pulled the upset in the 2011 NCAA regional finals.

But it’s not easy, not at all.

Aston and Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby have spoken admiringly about the game plan devised by Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer for Baylor in the 2012 Final Four. The Cardinal trailed by just two at halftime — and then lost by 12. At least it was the closest game Baylor experienced in the tourney.

In Hawaii, VanDerveer said her team made the open shots they missed earlier. Stanford became the only team this season to shoot better than 50 percent against Baylor, which is holding opponents to 32.5 percent shooting from the field.

The Cardinal committed just 11 turnovers and outrebounded the Bears by 12. It was almost a perfect game, like the Villanova men upsetting Georgetown in the 1985 NCAA Finals.

“You have to figure out what you’re willing to give up,” VanDerveer said. “You have to pick your poison.”

She almost sounded a little apologetic and acknowledged she might have awakened a snoozing giant.

“I think they were distracted by the islands and the travel,” VanDerveer said. “I told Kim afterward that hopefully this was a wakeup call. I told her they have to come out and play hard every game because they’re going to get everybody’s best shot.”

Since then, only UConn has come within double-figures of Baylor, losing by six in front of 16,294 in Hartford. In the Big 12, Baylor’s average margin of victory was 27.5 points.

Griner almost certainly will win another national player of the year. She’s coming off a career-best 50-point performance against Kansas State and ranks second on the all-time NCAA scoring list.

With a West Coast point of view, VanDerveer compared her to Lew Alcindor at UCLA before he became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In a reflection of the multi-dimensional challenge presented by Baylor, several coaches cited Sims as the focal point.

“I think she has a toughness,” said Tennessee coach Holly Warlick, whose team won the Southeastern Conference regular-season title — and lost to Baylor 23.

“The team feeds off her. She makes plays when they need them, she makes steals when they need them. I think you somehow have to contain her and make sure that she’s not as effective as she’s always been.”

Good luck with that. Texas A&M coach Gary Blair remembers Sims enduring a nightmarish game in the 2011 NCAA loss.

“Right now, Odyssey plays like she’s in the WNBA,” Blair said. “She’s the key to that basketball team.”

What separates Sims from other players at the position is perimeter defense. Earlier this season, she said she wanted her legacy to be as one of the best on-ball defenders in college basketball history. Teammates Jordan Madden and Nae-Nae Hayden are taller and nearly as aggressive. Get past the perimeter and there’s Griner, whose blocked more shots than anyone in NCAA history.

“Baylor is the best defensive team that’s ever played the game because Griner allows you to do a lot of things outside,” Blair said.

“I love their team. I’d love to play them for the national championship. They’ll probably be there. I have a lot of work to do.”

Follow Chuck Carlton on Twitter at @ChuckCarltonDMN.

Possible blueprint to beating Baylor

Play a zone, some kind of zone. One person alone can’t contain Griner. A zone allows a chance for a sagging double-team and still the possibility to contest shots.

Hit outside shots because you’re not scoring inside. Stanford was 7-of-14 on 3-pointers in beating Baylor. In 2011, Texas A&M didn’t shoot well but guard Sydney Carter had a career-night with 22 points.

Physical and mental toughness. Baylor isn’t a finesse team and has seen almost every situation.

If it’s close, expect to see a lot of Griner in the second half. Baylor will go to Griner in crunch time. Don’t let her set on the right side of the lower block. “She’s deadly over there,” Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said.

Familiarity helps. It’s nearly impossible to simulate Baylor’s size and style in practice. Stanford had seen Baylor in the Final Four the previous season. A&M had played Baylor seven times in 13 months, losing the first six before winning at American Airlines Center in March 2011.

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